Braves TV deal worse than we thought

The LA Times reports the Dodgers will receive $240 to $280 million per year for local broadcasting rights.

According to DOB, the Braves take in roughly $20-to-$25 million annually from their local TV rights — a deal Jeff Passan calls “the sport’s worst television contract,” negotiated as “a term of its sale” from Time Warner to Liberty Media.

A sale that was approved by Hapless Bud. Remember where to direct the blame when Jay Hey, Freddie and Med Dog are playing elsewhere a few years from now.

The deal doesn’t expire for another 20 years. God knows what shape the Braves will be in then.

This hurts Liberty just as much as it hurts the fans. There has to be some sort of buyout option. With that much money involved, you’d think a buyout would make sense. But, I guess this could make sense if Liberty is using it as a tax write-off, but even that seems strange. The owner, if not a rich individual interested in chasing championships, should want the team to increase in value, if only for resale purposes.

I still think Time-Warner got an under-the-table quid pro quo from Fox Sports to freeze capitation fees for its cable systems in exchange for the below-market-value rights fees. That it was a term of sale, I think, makes this suspicion more, not less, likely to be true, and that the Used Car Salesman was inom the scam.